Running late to work and suddenly your garage door won’t open? We know that it’s utterly frustrating and stressful. But guess what? It’s an extremely common garage door problem, and the solution might be easier than you think. In fact, it can be just a call away *wink-wink*.
But if you want to do some DIY troubleshooting first to get the gears of your unyielding garage door rolling, we also got you covered. In this post, we’ll discuss some of the common reasons why your garage door isn’t opening and the solutions you can try before you ‘surrender’ to our expertise. Read on, and let’s put each solution to the test!
Why won’t my garage door open?
There are a myriad of reasons as to why your garage door is not opening as it should. And in our almost 20 years of experience as a garage door expert, the following are the usual culprits:
1. Power supply issues
One of the first things we rule out in these situations is whether the garage door opener is disconnected from the power supply or not. Sometimes, these wirings and connections may get loose, which will not allow enough power to pass through and make the garage door opener unable to function.
Aside from that, there could be a faulty circuit breaker or a blown fuse that affects the power supply to your garage. It’s best to check for these aspects first or call a technician to handle the repairs for you.
2. Broken door springs
Most garage doors are equipped with torsion springs installed above the doorway. These springs are wound tightly to create a counterweight that allows your door to open smoothly.
However, these springs may break or reach the end of its service life, which will make your garage door stuck closed or only opening halfway.
This requires professional garage door spring repair or garage door spring replacement to restore your door’s functionality. Take note that torsion springs are highly dangerous on untrained hands, so it’s best that you call us for expert repairs.
3. Faulty remote control
Why is my garage door not opening, you ask? In some cases, your remote control could be the culprit. The most common scenario is dead remote control batteries, the remote is no longer synced to the opener, or you need to replace your busted remote control.
Overall, you can still open your garage through your door keypad or by doing it manually. You can also perform a quick garage door opener and then re-connect your remote control to see if it will fix the problem.
4. Incorrect limit settings
One of the most common garage door problems we encounter is incorrect garage door opener limit settings. Sometimes, our customers have their settings too high, which means that their doors will travel abruptly. On the other hand, a very low travel limit setting means that the door won’t open properly or it won’t close all the way.
If your door is still not budging at this point, you may want to adjust the limit settings on your garage door opener. However, if you’re unsure how to do it, you can always call us anytime for emergency garage door repair. We can send a technician to your location 24/7 to fix any problem preventing your door from functioning correctly.
5. Track misalignment
Misaligned tracks or off-track rollers can also prevent your garage door opener from opening properly. It could get stuck midway or not open at all, even if your opener motor is running. This can be due to regular wear and tear, bent tracks, rollers that hopped off the tracks, and so on.
You can easily prevent track problems by including it on your regular maintenance checklist. Make sure you lubricate the tracks, clean the rollers, and replace them once they are already worn out.
6. Damaged garage door opener
The worst-case scenario is that you have a broken garage door opener. It’s possible that the motor is burned out, overloaded, has worn-out gears, or is already too old for your garage door. Depending on the severity of the damage, you may need garage door opener repair or a replacement unit to restore your door’s seamless function.
Troubleshooting garage door opener can be a trick task, so it’s best to call a garage door expert like us to look at your unit. This way, you’ll also get an onsite quote and we can fix your garage door opener fast once you’re happy with the price.
What to do when your garage door won't open
Knowing how to fix a garage door that won’t open can be frustrating, especially on a busy morning. In that case, you may want to check these possible scenarios and the potential solutions you can try:
“My garage door opener is running, but my door won’t open.”
There are three possible scenarios here: you have broken torsion springs, the trolley carriage components are broken, or there’s something wrong with your door opener’s motor.
First, you may want to check if your door springs have gaps or looks different from its usual appearance. If there’s nothing unusual to your garage door springs, you can check if the trolley carriage is moving but the door isn’t. This means that its components are broken and need garage door repair.
However, if you ruled out both of these scenarios, you can refer t your user manual for basic garage door opener troubleshooting guide. And if all else fails, you can always call us to diagnose and repair your unit.
“The door starts to lift but only goes a few inches up.”
This is a classic case of incorrect travel limit settings. The good news is that you can easily fix this by pressing a few buttons on your garage door opener. You can try DIY adjustments by referring to your unit’s user manual, but do so in small increments, then check the door’s functionality after one or two adjustments.
Overall, avoid making huge adjustments in the limit settings at once, as this could cause your door to travel too fast or slam shut. Again, little by little, then test your door to see how much you still need to adjust.
However, if you’re not confident about adjusting your opener’s settings, you can always choose to call the best garage door repair service in LA.
“My door makes a loud grinding noise when I try to open it.”
There are many possible reasons why your door is making a loud grinding noise and not opening. The most common scenario here are worn-out rollers, which gets stuck on the tracks, and prevents the door from opening. You may also want to check the tracks for any damage, misalignment, or lack of lubrication.
Fixing a noisy garage door can be fairly easy with some DIY troubleshooting. But if you’ve tried everything and nothing worked, you can always call our experts to give you a helping hand.
“My wall switch works erratically – it opens my door, but sometimes it won’t.”
An unreliable wall switch can be due to faulty wiring or loose connections. First, you may want to check for frayed or worn-out wires that will require replacements to ensure that power gets into your wall switch or keypad properly.
Also, it’s possible that other devices on your garage are causing interference on your door switch. This includes wireless doorbells, motion detectors, battery chargers, or appliances placed near the switch or the opener. Try moving these devices away and see if the erratic operation of your wall switch will be resolved.
If not, then you should consider calling us to get to the root of the problem.
“My garage door won’t open, and the garage door opener light is blinking.”
A blinking garage door opener light means that there’s something wrong somewhere on your garage door. It can be issues with your safety sensors, the door is off-track, power supply issues, or limit setting problems.
For this, you can try resetting your garage door opener and see if it will solve the problem. You should also check for loose connections that causes power supply interruptions as well as possible track problems.
However, if everything seems fine on your garage door, the next possible culprit is the garage door opener itself. You may need to start searching for ‘garage door service near me’ for professional inspection and repairs.
Still have problems with garage door opening? Call us for an expert fix!
If you’ve tried all our solutions above and your garage door still won’t open, it might be time to call us at California Garage Door Repair. We can send a licensed technician to your place in as fast as 1 hour, depending on your exact location and our availability.
Also, 24/7 garage door repair in Los Angeles and the surrounding areas. We can repair just about any problem that’s preventing your garage door from opening properly. Aside from that, we can conduct a thorough inspection of your garage door to ensure that you won’t have another frustrating snag.
For 18+ years, we’ve been the trusted garage door expert of our fellow LA locals. We can repair any garage door brand, be it Chamberlain, Genie, LiftMaster, Raynor, or whatever unit you have on your property. We’re also licensed to provide garage door repairs for both residential and commercial properties in California.
